Participating in GSP Studies

GSP funds studies to gather knowledge in different areas that can than be utilized by other ESA directorates. Therefore in order to allow a great variety of ideas and inputs the GSP encourages small companies and universities to also participate. A new view on old problems often triggers astonishing results.

Interacting with the GSP also involves meeting other companies, universities and of course ESA.

The General Studies Programme (GSP) publishes on a regular basis studies in the EMITS system. This general checklist should help potentially interested companies and institutions from ESA memberstates how to get involved.

Register in EMITS (Companies, Institutes and Universities wishing to do business with ESA are required to register as potential bidders and become an EMITS user)

Acquire and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of ESA's programmes, activities, organisation and methods of operations.

How to work with the GSP

Each year the GSP funds a large number of studies related to all areas of space research and spaceflight. Three types of activities are possible:

Strategy:corporate studies

Missions: pre-Phase A, Phase A studies

Interdisciplinary Studies: system studies on new concepts, exploratory research

Following an internal evaluation of the proposed study the Statement of Work will be generated that provides the basis for industry to work with GSP. A detailed description will be issued in the open tenders site on EMITS. This triggers a call for proposals open to all European industry and universities. After a careful evaluation of the proposals by ESA experts, a contract will be assigned to the most successful bidder.

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Quick access to space, high-speed data feed and a unique vantage point are the selling points of a new commercial venture on the International Space Station. Its name is Bartolomeo, and its versatile design allows for many mission types at competitive prices from next year.

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Quick access to space, high-speed data feed and a unique vantage point are the selling points of a new commercial venture on the International Space Station. Its name is Bartolomeo, and its versatile design allows for many mission types at competitive prices from next year.

Living near a star is risky business, and positioning a spacecraft near the Sun is a very good way to observe rapidly changing solar activity and deliver early warning of possibly harmful space weather. ESA is now looking at doing just that.

ESA’s first mission of the year was launched today: GomX-4B is the Agency’s most advanced technology-tester yet, featuring a hyperspectral camera and tiny thrusters to manoeuvre thousands of kilometres from its near-twin to try out their radio link.

Simple yet efficient: intensive jumping might be a panacea for strong bones, muscles and hearts. A European study has confirmed the benefits of making giant leaps not only for astronauts, but also for elderly and sedentary people.

From the 30th January to the 2nd of February 2018, 16 University students completed a week of learning how to manage a project and build experiments for the Spin Your Thesis! Drop Your Thesis! and Fly Your Thesis! programmes at ESEC, in Redu, Belgium.

In just four days, a group of university students managed to prepare the preliminary design of a small satellite. The secret to their success was using the Concurrent Engineering method to speedily but effectively perform design iterations on the different subsystems and systems.

ESA is organising its 9th Summer Teacher Workshop from 10 to 13 July 2018, as well as its 4th Autumn Teacher Workshop from 4to 7 October 2018. Both workshops will take place in the Netherlands and are dedicated to European primary and secondary school teachers.

The deadline to apply for both workshops is Wednesday21 March 09:00 CET.

ESA is thrilled to announce the location and organiser of the 2018 European CanSat launch campaign: the competition will be hosted by the Regional Fund for Science and Technology (FRCT) on the island of Santa Maria, Azores (Portugal), in collaboration with local partners.

The next Alpbach Summer School will be held from 17 to 26 July 2018, and will focus on “Sample return from small Solar System bodies“. University students and young graduates have until 31 March 2018 to apply.